domenica 27 settembre 2015

France, Malta, Georgia, Turkey secure Belgrade 2016 berths

Even more participants of the 2016 European Championship in Belgrade were determined on day 2 of the 2nd qualification round on Saturday. Thanks to a big 10-9 win over Slovakia the French home side secured their 2nd straight European Championships berth while the Slovaks on their part also found themselves sure of the 2016 European Championships as Belarus and Ukraine are too far behind with just one game left this weekend. Another team to obtain historic participance in the European finals is Malta who defeated Poland 8-13 on Saturday at home in the national pool that clinched the second spot in their group with Germany as winners after their crushing triumph over Switzerland: 21-0. Also Georgia made sure their will be back on the European stage following their Budapest 2014 participance by finishing 2nd in group E thanks to a big 6-17 victory over hosts Israel on Saturday. Turkey followed that example obtaining historic qualification claiming 2nd place in Astrakhan, Russia despite an 11-8 loss to home side Russia who clinched the group win while Portugal crush Latvia 0-30. As Turkey already beat Portugal on day 1 their 2nd place is ensured and will be confirmed Sunday when last ranked Latvia awaits.

In the women's tournaments Germany made highlights by beating France 11-9 in Krefeld on Saturday to take the group victory while securing themselves of Belgrade 2016. As Greece did the same in the other group, as expected, the race for the final spot will be interesting with both France and Portugal with the same amount of points after day 2 of the 2nd round.